I teach in my woodworking class not to work with metal in the woodshop, but I have noticed several people working with wood in the metal shop on the KMG and I had someone ask me about using the drill press. Is that ok, or is it something we should start addressing in our classes?
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I think the issue with metal in the wood shop is that metal chips and filings will embed themselves in wood projects. I can’t see sawdust hurting a metal project but metal shop would have chime in on it.
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It’s a fire hazard to work metal in the wood shop. Sparks flying into piles of dust and such. I think we should be careful about working wood in the metal shop (extra cleanup, etc.), but there aren’t any machines that are going to create the amount of dust we see in the wood shop.
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Didn’t even think of that.
Especially with the Fire Marshall citing us for dangerous airborne dust levels. That could be catastrophic.
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I can’t see much of an issue as long as the people who are working in the metal shop clean up after themselves.
Though, if it were me, I would ask @dallasmagna or @TBJK since they’re the people in charge of the 'shop.
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If we’re talking about WOOD in the METAL shop, one issue is dust collection. (because there isn’t any in metal shop)
I’d love to see a small band saw and a better drill press in Metal shop. Band saws cut aluminum angle and thin sheet great with the right blade. Otherwise, I’m tempted to take those pieces to woodshop.
Is there any reason Machine Shop doesn’t accomplish these needs?
sawdust and machine tools are a bad mix. oil makes it hard to clean off, and the wood draws moisture from the air and holds it next to nice shiny precision surfaces.
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For the record, I’m only responding to the quoted text, about using a bandsaw for aluminum angle and sheet metal.
Agreed, but we’re talking about the metal shop, not the machine shop. A lot of the tools that are sensitive in this way, such as the bridgeport, are very far from the metal shop because we do grinding and metal dust isn’t good for the precision surfaces either.
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It would seem that reasonable/limited/judicious use of metal shop tools for some wood-related reasons would be OK. As pointed out above, any metal in woodshop is an issue; a little wood in the metal shop is not.
Assuming reasonable/limited/judicious use (think shaping or drilling a wood/metal/wood lamination for a knife handle), it would be hard to make the amount of wood dust or chips that would lead to a fire hazard, or that would require active dust collection.
And folks are always expected to clean up after using a tool/making a mess (and during, if needed). Whether they actually do, or are required to, is a completely different consideration.
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I’d say that they need to use their own belts on the KMG if they are working with wood. But I am not an expert on it.
Or worse, epoxy that might plug the belt.
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At least for Machine Shop, if you cut wood on a metal band saw you’ll need to open up ALL the covers and remove ALL WOOD dust from inside the tool. Wood attacks water which can lead to corrosion. And as state it is a mess between lubricants and metal cuttings inside. I seriously doubt people are going to go to trouble to actually clean it that thoroughly.
Wood Shop has three different band saws plus a jig saw for cutting wood - why would you want use Metal Shop or Machine Shop saws other than to avoid Wood Shop Basics. Plus the blade’s TPI’s, tooth shape, and kerf are optimized for metal not wood.
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So, is that what’s going on here? People not trained in woodshop basics want to use a drillpress or bandsaw (or beltsander) and they see metal shop as an easy way to do that?
You’ve hit on an important issue.
Woodshop has a devil of a time keeping the sanders operational - people sand all kinds of crap that fills up the belt. Maybe not daily but not far from it.
IMO, spreading that joy into the other shops because the woodshop sander is gummed up ought to be strictly prohibited.
Woodshop has several bandsaws and using wood on any of the metal saws also ought to be prohibited for the hygroscopic reasons discussed above.
For a while the Woodshop drill press was inop and I saw more people looking around the space for alternatives during that time.
I don’t know, that’s just my guess as I don’t see another reason, unless it’s iron wood 
Why else would you want to use non-wood tools on wood when WS has tools designed specifically for wood. If this is reason then the WSB backlog is now impacting other areas.
The kmg has more uses than just grinding metal. It is widely accepted that it is to be used in industry for shaping handles, etc. Everyone who uses the KMG should be providing belts of their own. This is not the sander in woodshop, the belt is going to vary greatly on what you are doing with it. As for the fire hazard, it is a non starter. There should be no mess to start a fire on. You finish you vacuum up your dust…
Thread is about wood in metal shop
Was my wood + metal example not an actual or reasonably likely example?
Probably not.
This is the real problem. Everywhere.
Exactly correct. In fact a great idea on all use of sanding equipment where the single use is likely to ruin the belt.